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2009 UEFA Champions League Final
| team1score = 2 | team2 = Manchester United | team2association = | team2score = 0 | details = | date = 27 May 2009 | stadium = Stadio Olimpico | city = Rome | man_of_the_match1a = Xavi (Barcelona) | man_of_the_match1atitle = UEFA | man_of_the_match1b = Lionel Messi (Barcelona) | man_of_the_match1btitle = Fans' | referee = Massimo Busacca (Switzerland) | attendance = 62,467 | weather = Clear night 23°C 71% humidity | previous = 2008 | next = 2010 }} The 2009 UEFA Champions League Final was played on 27 May 2009 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. The match determined the winners of the 2008-09 season of the UEFA Champions League, a tournament for the top football clubs in Europe. The match was won by Barcelona of Spain, who beat England's Manchester United 2-0. Samuel Eto'o opened the scoring in the 10th minute, and Lionel Messi added another goal 20 minutes from the end to earn Barcelona an historic treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, a feat never before achieved by a Spanish club. Background Manchester United and Barcelona had previously faced each other nine times in European competitions: three times in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and six times in the UEFA Champions League. Of those nine matches, Manchester United had recorded three wins to Barcelona's two, with the remaining four matches finishing in draws. The only time that the two teams met in a final came in 1991, when they contested the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup final. The first meeting between the two sides came in the third round of the 1983-84 Cup Winners' Cup; Barcelona won the first leg at the Camp Nou 2-0, but Manchester United won the return leg 3-0 at Old Trafford to reach the semi-finals. That result marked Manchester United's biggest win over Barcelona; Barcelona's biggest win was a 4-0 home victory in the group stage of the 1994-95 Champions League. The most recent meeting between the teams came in the semi-finals of the 2007-08 Champions League, when United held Barcelona to a 0-0 draw at the Camp Nou before beating them 1-0 at Old Trafford. Both teams went into the match as the champions of their respective countries - the first time that the final had been contested by domestic champions since 1999, when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich 2-1 at Barcelona's home, the Camp Nou - both winning with games to spare. Manchester United won their 11th Premier League title with a 0-0 draw at home to Arsenal on 16 May, while Barcelona were confirmed as La Liga champions for the first time in three years when Real Madrid lost to Villarreal on the same day. Both Manchester United and Barcelona were also looking for another Champions League title to cap a season in which they had won multiple trophies: Manchester United had already won four out of a possible seven trophies in 2008-09 and were playing for the possibility of becoming the third team to retain the European Double (the domestic league and the European Cup), while Barcelona were aiming to become the first Spanish club to win a Treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. The Stadio Olimpico in Rome had hosted three European Cup finals before 2009: the 1977 and 1984 finals, both of which were won by Liverpool - Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in 1977 before beating home side Roma 4-2 on penalties after the match finished 1-1 after extra time; the most recent final to be held at the Stadio Olimpico was the 1996 final, which Juventus also won 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Ajax. The construction of the stadium was commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in the mid-1930s as the centrepiece of a new sports complex in the city, to be named Foro Mussolini. After the Second World War, the complex was renamed Foro Italico and the stadium was radically redesigned as a 54,000-capacity arena for the 1960 Summer Olympics. After hosting the 1987 World Athletics Championships, the stadium was redeveloped in time for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, at which West Germany's 1-0 win over Argentina in the final was played there. The stadium's most recent renovation, in 2008, increased its capacity to 72,689. Road to Rome |bgcolor=#c1e0ff|Group stage |colspan=3 align=center| |- valign=top bgcolor=#c1e0ff |Opponent |Result |Legs |bgcolor=#c1e0ff|Knockout stage |Opponent |Result |Legs |- | Lyon |6-3 |1-1 away; 5-2 home |bgcolor=#c1e0ff|First knockout round | Internazionale |2-0 |0-0 away; 2-0 home |- | Bayern Munich |5-1 |4-0 home; 1-1 away |bgcolor=#c1e0ff|Quarter-finals | Porto |3-2 |2-2 home; 1-0 away |- | Chelsea |1-1 (a) |0-0 home; 1-1 away |bgcolor=#c1e0ff|Semi-finals | Arsenal |4-1 |1-0 home; 3-1 away |} Match details |score=2 – 0 |report=Report |team2= Manchester United |goals1=Eto'o Messi |goals2= |stadium=Stadio Olimpico, Rome |attendance=62,467 |referee=Massimo Busacca (Switzerland) }} |valign="top"| |valign="top" width="50%"| |} Statistics ;First half ;Second half ;Overall Final2009